There has never been a more foolish undertaking in hockey history than the current NHL lockout. But before this devolves into another tired diatribe by an angry, locked-out writer covering the sport, consider:

• People, including us angry, locked-out hockey writers, are moving on. Like, rapidly moving on, from the sport. There are no good guys in this story, which means nobody is rooting for either side.

That statement apparently was in error or a lie, but nobody really cares to investigate which one anymore. It really is true, too, that the fans of this sport have been played for fools by Bettman and the group he works for, the owners.

Ticket prices, by one reputable survey, increased 39 percent overall in the league from the first year after the last lockout through the most recent season. All that money paid by people who wanted to see the sport has all been pocketed now by the people who own and play NHL games, but apparently it wasn’t enough.

True, the owners want to pay less to the players, and the savings might theoretically be passed on to the consumer. But not even Bettman is bothering with that canard anymore. He essentially said that last time, but prices went up by 39 percent and so, well, that’s it for that bit.

• On the other side is Donald Fehr and the players, and while they had a nice early lead in the PR war in this story and are in fact the more innocent party of the two sides, these boys have cried wolf a little too often by now.

I’d love to see Fehr actually have to represent actual working people. That would probably cure him of his charade pretending he’s Joe Hill fighting for real folk. Fehr has spent nearly all his professional life equating the “struggle” of professional athletes to that of firemen and policemen and teachers fighting for 2 percent wage hikes on low five-figure salaries.

NHL players saw their salaries increase from an average of $1.4 million to $2.4 million in the last eight years. Owners want to trim that number, which they certainly have the right to want.

Fehr, though, too often makes it sound like players will have to apply for food stamps if they “give in” to owners’ demands. Meanwhile, his clients still love to say things like, “We just want to play the game, that’s all.”

You can play the game in a few days, NHL players, by accepting the owners’ last offer — which oh-by-the-way would also guarantee you all $15 BILLION to $20 BILLION dollars in the next several years. If revenues of the league increase over the next 7-10 years the way many believe they would — no doubt helped along by ticket-price increases — then 50 percent of overall league revenues, as the owners are offering, would be worth more than the 57 percent you had in the last deal.

But, no, it has to be about lines drawn in the sand and phony battles on “principle” and all the other canards both sides want us to believe — again.

Too bad, but nobody is buying right now. I absolutely believe the sport now is badly damaged with the public, and attendance will fall off a cliff in many, many cities if and when the NHL returns. I don’t have any Nate Silver-style data to back that up, but I believe it will be the case.

This turned out to be a tired, angry diatribe after all, didn’t it? I guess it’s too hard to avoid. When the topic of the NHL comes up now, the default factory setting in everybody’s mind is:

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tyreek Hill didn’t know what to do when he started hearing thousands of people in Arrowhead Stadium chanting his name, even as he stood all alone on the frozen turf waiting for the punt.